BDS Condemns Giro decision by the UAE and Bahraini participation in the d’Italia race which began on May 4th.

Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) condemns the decision by the UAE and Bahraini governments to send their national cyclists to Israel to participate in the Giro d’Italia race which began on May 4th.

BDS Malaysia fully shares the anger and outrage expressed by Palestinians against the shameful and callous participation of these two Arab countries in an event hosted by the Zionist apartheid state.

Amidst the continuing illegal actions of Israel in Jerusalem and its repression of Palestinians living there and in the West Bank and Gaza and during the month to commemorate the Nakba of 1948 wherein Palestinians were displaced from their rightful homeland through massacres and sheer terrorism, for the two Arab countries to send delegations to the event is utterly unacceptable to anyone who wants to see a free Palestine and a just settlement for all parties in the conflict.

The apparent normalisation of relations between those two countries and the Zionist apartheid state will only encourage further repressive measures and downright brutality by the Israelis against the indigenous Palestinian population.

Had the UAE and Bahraini governments consulted their own citizens about the wisdom of participating in the event, it is a certainty that their own population would have rejected the idea outright. The Zionist apartheid regime is using the spectre of Iran to persuade Arab regimes to put aside their taboo of having contacts with it. It seeks normalisation with more and more Arab countries only for the self-serving objective of being able to argue that its continuing repression of Palestinians is gaining acceptance or tolerance among Arabs in general.

BDS Malaysia calls on those countries not to waver from their rightful official stand of not having any relations with Israel.

The international solidarity campaign for a free Palestine is gaining momentum the world over and the isolation of the Zionist apartheid regime in all spheres of human activity must continue until it stops its crimes against Palestinians. BDS Malaysia calls on the UAE and Bahrain governments to cease their apparent normalisation with the Zionist apartheid regime and re-affirm their commitment to isolate the Zionist state for the sake of a free Palestine where all can live in peace and dignity. Prof. Mohd Nazari Ismail, PhD.ChairmanBDS Malaysia